theshabbosproject | Imamother

amother

Bronze

Sat, Oct 28 2017, 8:41 pm

We tried. We live in Brooklyn, and DH invited 15 different non-frum people on Shabbos.com, all of whom live near us and have been active on the site within the past year. Most did not respond at all, and a few wrote back to say they have plans and can't make it.

I also invited a non-frum woman who works in my office, and while she initially accepted, she backed out at the last minute because she was sick. In the end, one guy from Shabbat.com did come, and we had a lovely time getting to know him and hope he'll come back again. Curious to hear about other people's experiences.

amother

Periwinkle

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 5:05 am

amother wrote:

It was last week. Finished. You missed it.

It's a terrific idea but I feel had lost it's momentum somewhat.

I definitely feel like the shabbos project lost its momentum...

It seems a bit patronizing at this point
Like we are making a special time to reach out and show the less fortunate how wonderful shabbos is...
But in reality we shld be doing that all the time...
I wouldn't want to be someone's shabbos project

I was so super inspired the first year of the program...

Someone enlighten me about the real message and purpose of the shabbos

PinkFridge

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 6:00 am

South Africa isn't like anywhere else. But I think it's great that it spread. Did it lose momentum? Yes. But I think the biggest hurdle is that once people pass say, college age (and even then if they've been influenced by their parents) they don't want to sleep in other people's homes. I don't just mean random strangers who reach out to them on the internet, I mean homes that have been recommended by a mutual third party, or a co-worker's home, or even a guest wing in an affluent, elegant home. People just don't do that.

FTR, I went to our challah bake.

amother

Sienna

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 11:14 am

amother wrote:

The shabbat project was started in South Africa. The Jewish community there is extremely unique. There are many many different kinds of Jews. Orthodox and many varying secular kinds of Jews. They all daven in the same shuls, they all come together in a way that I have never experienced any other place in the world. So, the chief rabbi of South Africa, Rabbi Warren Goldstein, wanted to try to unite all Jews, in one of the things that we could have in common, something that could unite us and not divide us, and that was shabbat.

amother

Taupe

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 11:44 am

amother wrote:

I would love to have a communal meal in my area like they mentioned they had in California with thousands of all types and stripes together as one. I don't find inviting one person over to our family shabbos cuts it.

I so totally disagree. Of course one person cuts it. Years ago, before I was religious, I was invited to someone’s house for a Shabbos meal. My life was never the same again. My eyes were opened up to a beautiful world that I never knew existed. My neshoma caught fire. It was the start of a long journey back to my roots.
It all started that Shabbos meal. I am one person.

amother

Lavender

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 12:00 pm

amother wrote:

Some people need to communal meal for their own spirituality.

amother

Taupe

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 12:22 pm

amother wrote:

Some people need to communal meal for their own spirituality.

Although some people do need a communal meal for their own spirituality, some people don’t need a communal meal to turn them on to Yiddishkeit. Everyone is different. You don’t know what effect you will have on any one individual.

amother

Teal

Sun, Oct 29 2017, 12:33 pm

The timing is really bad for our very small community. It's so soon after yom tov, its very difficult to pull together big events in just 2 weeks. And Yom tov is non stop so no one has time. Maybe in bigger cities where you don't have the same people doing everything. There are other reasons unique to our location which make this week a very bad week as well.

We have not frum shabbos guests every week, so do the other shomer shabbos families in our community.

etky

Sun, Nov 05 2017, 1:17 am

amother wrote:

I agree. The timing is awful - and to think it originally took place on Shabbat Noach!
In our 95% orthodox town here in Israel, where there are many olim and former olim, they turned it into Shabbat Aliyah. They had a central challah bake and also a program at the community center that focused on aliyah, where olim told their stories.
The religious council donated100 portions of kugel to each shul that would run a program on shabbat and have a kiddush.
Our shul rose to the occasion (couldn't pass up the free kugel, could we...) and had a kiddush where the chatan bereishit spoke about his aliya. It actually was very special because he is a member of a large Peruvian clan that lives in the neighborhood and davens in our shul. It was interesting to hear the story of their conversion to Judaism: how what started out as a Bible study group in the sixties in a town on the Ecuadorian border gradually turned into a desire to observe the Torah and become Jewish and finally, to make aliya. It was actually very fascinating and moving.